Too Good to Be True

No, we didn't go right from Winter to Spring without having to endure "Mud Season". But that too would be too good to be true.

Last week when I was in town running errands and Garrick was also there volunteering at the nursing home and shoveling snow at a friend's, we passed a guy who was selling shrimp ... for $1.25 per pound. They were whole shrimp, with the heads still on but I thought ... that's how we used to buy them at the Dolac Fish Market in Zagreb. I used to make a great Scampi Dish by simmering the whole shrimp in wine and garlic. We would eat them with our hands; first we would break apart the tail and eat the tail meat; then, we would suck the juice out of the head and body portion of the shrimp. It was very sweet and delicious, one of our favorite meals while in Croatia.

Garrick got out of the truck, asked for about two pounds, paid the guy $2.50 and we were on our way. Those of you who know me well, know that I am a bit anal about my To Do List which also contains my meal plan for the week. So, as Shrimp Scampi was not already on the menu, when we got home I tossed the shrimp into the freezer for the following week.

Imagine my disappointment when this morning on the way to the vet (a four hour excursion that included a mere 20 minutes at the actual vet's office ... 55 miles of driving ... each way), when I saw that same shrimp guy, selling those shrimp for $1 per pound in a different town!

Well, this afternoon, I took the bag of shrimp out of the freezer to thaw. And at about six, I started to get ready to prepare dinner: shrimp scampi, linguine, and spinat (Croatian for spinach ... pronounced shpinat). The water for the linguine was in one pot, the spinat was in another, the bottle of wine was uncorked, and I dumped the shrimp into the colander to rinse it off. I rinsed the shrimp with the sprayer but it seemed a little brown. Upon closer examination, I realized that the shrimp were full of sand and dirt. And, upon even further examination, I realized that the amount of meat in the tail of one of the shrimp was about equivalent to the size of an olive pit. When I called Garrick over to help me assess the situation, he immediately said, " Those are bait shrimp, mom!" I only wish he'd realized that last week before I doled out that $2.50!

So, we had cheese and mushroom omelets (more like scrambled eggs) with our spinat tonight. Wish I could say we would be having grilled fish tomorrow night, caught with our freshly thawed bait, but I don't have an auger to make that hole in the ice, and I have no intention of going to get one either.

Have a good weekend -
Karyn